Great minds to think big at TEDx conference

Innovators, artists, entrepreneurs and others with ideas worth sharing will convene for the city's third-annual TEDx conference, to be held at COSI on Friday, Nov. 11.

Innovators, artists, entrepreneurs and others with ideas worth sharing will convene for the city’s third-annual TEDx conference, to be held at COSI on Friday, Nov. 11.

Tickets for this year’s installment, with the theme “A Moment in Time,” will go on sale Monday, Sept. 19.

“We’re just tapping into this desire for sharing, creating and inspiring each other to do more exciting things,” event curator Ruth Milligan said. “When you look at the people who sign up and attend — and the excitement of the speakers — it’s overwhelming.”

The TED conference was founded in 1984 to showcase ideas from the fields of technology, entertainment and design. Since then, independently organized TEDx events have sprouted in roughly 700 cities across the globe.

During TEDxColumbus, between 15 and 20 speakers will give short talks about big ideas that are rooted in something they’ve created, observed or experienced. Former presenters have included astronaut John Glenn, playwright Matt Slaybaugh and Michael Wilkos of the Columbus Foundation.

“The talks aren’t philosophical or hypothetical lectures that go for hours on end,” Milligan explained. “It’s a mind-bending brain spa for 600 people who then go out and repeat the stories to others.”

Alex Bandar, co-founder of the Columbus Idea Foundry, will discuss how Columbus is compiling the ingredients to allow locals to create their vision from scratch.

“We’re not relying on corporate things to make products they think we’ll want,” Bandar said. “We decide what we want, and we’ll make it — or we’ll teach ourselves to do it and empower ourselves.”